Electrical distribution and control in body appliances for medical purposes.



PATENTED JAN. 8, 1907.

J. P. RICHARDSON. ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION AND CONTROL IN BODY APPLIANCES FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES.

APPLICATION IILED DEC. 4. 1905.

\iiiilli iniui vlifllll a- Inventor.

Minesses.

JOHN F. RICHARDSON,

OF MONTREAL,

QUEBEC, CANADA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN CAMPBELL IVARDELL, OF MONTREAL, CANADA.

ELECTRlCAL DlSTRlBUTlON AND CONTROL lN Specification of Letters Patent.

BODY APPLIANCES FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES.

Patented Jan. 8, 1907.

Application filed December 4, 1905. Serial No. 290.212.

Too/U whom it may concern: I

Be it known that 1, JOHN FRANKLIN R1011- ARDSON, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 4 Hospital street, in the city and district of Montreal, Province of Quebec, in the Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Electrical Distribution and Control in Body Appliances for Medical Purposes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the electric distribution and control in body appliances for medical purposes; and the object of the invention is to devise a practical electric machine which may be readily attached to a garment worn close to the body of the person and whereby the application of the electric current shall be at the wearers will and in no way injurious to the body; and it consists, essentially, of a battery, a vibrator having primary and secondary windings electrically connected to said battery, bod contacts electrically connected to said vibrator, and means for cutting in and cutting out said contacts through said vibrator, as hereinafter more particularly described in detail.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a corset, having the facing partially removed and showing the various parts to my invention secured therein. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the appliance apart from the garment. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the cloth of a garment, showing the contact-stud and an electrical connection thereto.

Like letters and numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

Referring to the drawings, a is the battery,

referably inclosed in a small flat casing l) in order that it shall not bulge in the garmentto which it is attached. The battery is not a particular type, as any suitable make may be employed that can be inclosed within a convenient casing.

c is the vibrator, having the primary wind- I ings d and the secondary windings e and f, and g is the reed of said vibrator attracted at h to cores i and having the contact 1' in proximity to the contact lc, secured to the vibrator-casing and connected to the battery or by the wire Z.

we is a switch connected to the battery (1 by l the wire n and to the vibrator by the wires 0 and p. The switch m is formed of a plate q, having the contact 7" connected to the batthe user and connected by tery a by the wire a and the contacts 8 and t connected to the secondary windings e and f of the vibrator 0, respectively, by the wires 0 and p. In this arrangement the contact 8 includes one secondary winding in its connection, while the contact t includes both. The contacts 8 and r or t and r are connected by the throwing of the switch-lever a, turning on the pivot o, centrally projecting from the plate q. The switch-lever u itself forms the electrical connection between said. contacts.

to are contacts to be applied to the body of the wire a: to the switchlever a.

y is a wire connecting the switch-lever u with the primary windings d and forming the electrical connection between said windings and the battery a when the switch-lever u is thrown into connection.

2 represents contacts to be applied to another part of the body of the user and con nected to the secondary winding 0 by the wire 2.

It will thus be seen that the current from the battery must pass through the vibrator, and as the said vibrator is so arranged that one or both of its induction-coils may be energized, according to the position of the switch-lever, the current passing through the body is regulated to the needs of the patient.

3 is a corset having the facing removed at the top and bottom thereof to show the position of the parts of my device when applied to a garment of this nature.

The battery a is preferably placed in one of the halves at the front and the wires therefrom suitably insulated and carried along between the layers of cloth at the outside edge down to the bottom, and along the bottom edge to the rear and across to the other half by a suitable cable, and along the bottom edge, as shown at i, and up the front, where electrical connection is made to the switch m and the vibrator c. The wires continue between the layers from the switch to the Vibrator and from the switch and vibrator to the body-contacts inserted between the layers of cloth, as more particularly explained hereinafter. The wires throughout are preferably arranged in cable form, so as to simplify the application of the device to the garment.

The contacts to are preferably made in the form of a stud having the plate 6 inserted in between the layers of cloth, as shown in Fig.

the shank 7, and the front 8, and in this form of body-contact stud the wearer of the corset or other garment may button the con tact through a suitable buttonhole in an inner garment, so that the front of the stud or the actual contact portion will rest directly against the body of the wearer.

The vibrator is preferably held in the frame 9, having no back or face other than a suitable casing of a material having non-conducting properties as to current and sound.

In the operation of this device the garment, whether a corset or belt, is secured on the body of the wearer in the usual manner, and the contact-studs button through suitable holes made in the inner garment or garm'ents, bringing the contacts directly on the body at the back and front thereof. In the meantime the switch is in the position cutting out the vibrator and contacts from the battery, and no current reaches the body of the wearer. The throwing of the switch-lever over by the handle projecting above the top of the garment to connect the contacts permits the current from the battery to reach the primary and one secondary winding, as shown in the diagrammatic View. This will insure the operation of the vibrator and cause sufficient current to reach the contacts 8 and r to complete a circuit, which is through the body of the wearer and in which the action of the said vibrator on the current will be the means of producing certain beneficial results to the patient. The throwing of the switchlever to the contacts 25 and 1 will bring in both secondary windings and increase the current passing through the body of the wearer, as may be advisable according to the needs of the patient.

The advantage of using an appliance such as herein described is that the patient may derive the benefit of the use of electricity during his ordinary avocation and follow throughout the prescription of lL's physician that is to say, electricity as applied by leading physicians is provided in the same manner in this invention, but in place of using well-known method on special occasions s40,ees

this apparatusmay be on the body of the wearer continuousl and only used at certain times, as prescribed by the physicians. It will thus form a convenient as well as a more systematic way of using electricity for curative purposes, and in the apparatus described it will be seen that no sore will be raised by the application of the contacts.

In this specification I have confined to a corset the attach ng of my appliance, but it must be understood that without departing from the spirit of my invention the appliance may be attached to any garment.

"What I claim as my invention is A system for the electrical distribution and control in body appliances for medical purposes, comprising a battery, an inductioncoil having primary and secondary windings and a vibrating reed, a switch formed of a lever pivotally mounted on a plate having a contact secured thereto coacting with the lower end of said lever and a plurality of contacts secured thereto coacting with the upper end of said lever respectively, wiring connecting a battery-terminal to a contact coacting with the reed of said inductioncoil, wiring connecting a battery-terminal with the lowermost contact on said switch-plate, wiring connecting said plurality of upper contacts on said switch-plate respectively to a corresponding number of sections of said secondary windings respectively, body-contacts in sets, wiring connecting one set of said bodycontacts with said secondary windings, and wiring connecting the other set of body-contacts with said lever and forming with the two sets of bodycontacts, the induction-coil, the wiring thereto and the body, a circuit connected with the battery-circuit and adapted to transmit through said body a faradic current, asand for the purpose specified.

Signed in the city and district of Montreal, in the Province of Quebec, in the Dominion of Canada, this 27th day of November, 1905.

me. F. RICHARDSON.

l'Vitnesses LLOYD BLACKMORE, G. Tnnsnnnnn. 

